1. Marx had it right. Appropriate farming involves a greater degree of localization and integration with industry. Marx, along with a number of conservative writers at the time, realized that increasing agricultural production meant a scientific farming that was integrated into the urban world. Urban wastes would provide fertilizer while agriculture would provide raw materials.
The USDA recently tried to allow urban wastes are part of organic agriculture. They might have been correct, except that our urban wastes are contaminated with god-awful pollutants.
You can't have good agriculture until you treat farm workers as humans. You don't just give higher wages, but you have to provide them with the same amenities that urban dwellers enjoy. Locating farms close to cities can allow some of this to happen.
We can increase food yields quite a bit with intercropping, more labor intensive practices ....
People enjoy gardening but would dread a life as a farm worker. Once we can make agricultural work more attractive, agriculture can make great progress.
-- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929
Tel. 916-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu